THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 421 



the help of the sharp-scented dogs. Usually each seal hunter has 

 his own dog which he takes with him in leash but sometimes two 

 or three hunters will use the same dog. They will then leave the 

 house together in the morning, walking back and forth over the 

 ice until the dog has discovered the first seal hole. One of the 

 hunters remains at this hole while the others take the dog farther 

 afield. When he has found the second hole the third man takes 

 him, and so on. When the sealing is not more than a mile or 

 two from the village a seal that is caught early in the day is left 

 lying on the ice while the dog discovers for the hunter a second 

 seal hole. The hunter marks this hole temporarily, then he goes 

 back to where the dead seal lies, hitches the dog to it and sends 

 him home to camp. The dog does this errand with the greatest 

 good will for he knows that he is going to get a feed at the end of 

 it. I have asked Eskimos whether the dog was not likely to stop 

 on the way to eat the seal, but it seems that this rarely or never 

 happens. Before the dog starts he may try to lick the blood off 

 the seal but he will not stop even for this when once on his way. 

 However, if the seal is caught by a snag of ice and the dog gets 

 stuck, he may turn on the seal and eat it. When a dog once 

 learns to eat a seal on the way home it is difficult or impossible 

 to break him of the habit and thereafter such a dog is never en- 

 trusted with a seal. 



Next to the finding of seal holes the greatest use of the dog is 

 in bear hunting. Commonly two or three Eskimos hunt bears 

 together, although any Eskimo would be ashamed of not tackling a 

 bear alone if no hunting companion happened to be available. It 

 is considered that two or three dogs should be used although some 

 exceptionally good bear dogs are able to hold a bear singly. The 

 bow and arrow are occasionally used, especially if there are sev- 

 eral hunters, but more often the bear is killed with the hunting 

 knife converted into a spear, for these Eskimos have no regular 

 spears. An Eskimo always uses a walking stick a little stouter 

 than a broom handle and about four feet long, and when a bear is 

 to be attacked he lashes his hunting knife to this stick, thus convert- 

 ing it into a spear. The knife is double-edged and whether it is 

 of steel or of copper the blade is usually from ten to fourteen inches 

 long. 



Used as a draft animal, the dog helps the family to haul the 

 sled. The largest number of dogs I have ever seen among Eskimos 

 who did not have guns is three to a family. Two is the commonest 

 number and one dog to a family is not rare. Perhaps the main 



